Some of us will carefully check the labels on most of the products we use, scrutinizing them to see if we can find some suspicious ingredients listed. The rest of us do not care and just use these products anyway. But how would you feel if you discovered that your food or body lotion contained

Sewers and drains are more vital to civilization than many people in the modern world imagine. Before the widespread introduction of sanitation systems, human waste and other filth was often just tossed out of windows and onto the street—or the heads of passersby—below. Now we simply press a button or pull a lever and we

Prior to the breakout of World War II in 1939, the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany had caused concern throughout the Western world due to its anti-Semitic and aggressive policies. However, some within other countries harbored sympathetic and understanding feelings with the Nazi Party and their leader Adolf Hitler. At the conclusion of

Ancient burials can release a lot of information about the past. However, the rare ones often highlight the incompleteness of our known history. For some reason, the ancients mummified mice, wore bird beak collars, and put horses in boats. When rare burials do reveal tangible information, the stories can range from the unexpected—like the Europeans

The Great Wall of China is a series of defensive walls that surround China. The walls were built to protect ancient China from its neighbors and other pesky invaders, who often attacked whenever they got the opportunity. Construction took several hundreds of years, during which sections were continuously added to the walls until they were

We are all aware that when traveling overseas, you need to abide by the laws and customs of the country you are visiting. Obviously, drug smuggling, spying, and other criminal activity will earn you either a hefty fine or a longer-than-planned vacation behind bars. It’s common sense that if you break the law overseas, you

Dinosaurs continue to fascinate us. Every now and then, we discover a fossil that reveals some new facts about their lives—for example, their diets, injuries, or habitats. However, some fossils also reveal evidence of diseases that affected dinosaurs. Yes, these animals had their own illnesses, too, just like every other living creature out there. The

Even though almost all of us have played with LEGO sets while growing up, not everyone is that good at it. For good reason, too, as building anything more complicated than rudimentary replicas of our favorite cars and tiny houses with just those blocks is not easy. That is, of course, if you exclude the

The Spanish flu often gets overshadowed by its more popular counterparts like Ebola and the Black Plague. In many ways, though, it was far deadlier than anything we’ve seen before or since. An estimated one third of the entire world’s population contracted it, and it killed at least 50 million people. The doctors of 1918

If the week has got you down, this list might help lift your spirits. We looked at all the positive, inspiring, and amusing stories that made the headlines over the last few days and put them all into one list. It goes well with a side of offbeat quirkiness. This week, we look at regular

In our modern age of satellite imagery and aircraft, it is incredibly easy to explore and map out new locations. In the past, though, the job fell to small expeditions of well-equipped people. Relying on nothing but their log, some rations, and a handful of mapping tools, these groups would often spend months, if not